In interview sessions with Indianapolis reporters, new Eagles coach Nick Sirianni seemed poised and thoughtful
His thoughts on accountability and leadership might give a clue as to how Sirianni will lead the Eagles.
We still haven’t heard from new Eagles coach Nick Sirianni, because the Eagles, perhaps wanting to get past the weekend to maximize news coverage, haven’t announced the hiring of their franchise’s 24th head coach. That will have to happen before they hold a news conference.
However, on the Indianapolis Colts’ website, there are archived video news conferences with Sirianni, recorded as the team moved down the stretch of its 11-5 season, toward its 27-24 Wild Card Round playoff loss to Buffalo.
In those media appearances, the Indianapolis offensive coordinator under head coach Frank Reich comes off as affable and articulate, unflappable, generous with praise for his players and for other Colts coaches.
Of course, when you’re winning – Indianapolis won six of eight in the second half of the season – the questions tend to be a little easier to handle than what Doug Pederson faced during that time period.
Sometimes on camera, Sirianni is wearing a full beard, other times stubble. Sometimes he wears glasses, and sometimes a Colts baseball cap. He never seems annoyed or in a hurry to get away from the questioners. He gives vivid, detailed accounts of situations or plays.
From his voice and his appearance, a viewer might peg Sirianni as slightly younger than his 39 years. (He turns 40 on June 15, so Dick Vermeil remains the youngest head coach hired by the Eagles, at 39 years and 100 days when Vermeil took over in 1976).
On Dec. 29, heading into the regular-season finale against Jacksonville, Sirianni was asked about the development of the offense during the season.
“You figure out what you’re good at, what your guys are good at, you just get a better feel and flow for what your guys can do, what they execute, what you have executed … you build confidence in things, and then there’s things that come off of that, too. You marry things together, too, off of the things they’re good at,” he said.
In that same session, Sirianni was asked about the value of coming out of games second-guessing himself, wishing he had done this or that differently – did he do a lot of that, or did he try to avoid it?
“I think self-critiquing is one of the ways you get better, right?” he said. “If you’re not going to be critical [of] yourself and things you did in the game, the good and the bad, it’s going to be hard to grow from.
“And that’s from Frank’s leadership. Frank is great at that, and he forces us to do it as well, and it makes us better. Everyone talks about getting better every day. I know we live it, based off Frank’s leadership, and going through tough things like that.”
In another session, Sirianni was asked if Reich were too hard on himself as a play-caller, perhaps taking the blame on behalf of his players. Sirianni said Reich is critical of himself because that is how he wants his staff and his players to be. It was hard not to think of Carson Wentz, and criticisms that the Eagles quarterback doesn’t shoulder as much blame as he should.
“He practices what he preaches. I love that about Frank,” Sirianni said. He said that if Reich wants players to “have tough conversations and get better from our mistakes, he’s going to have to do that, too. And he does. That’s just great leadership.”
In the Dec. 29 video, the Colts were coming off a 28-24 loss at Pittsburgh, in which quarterback Philip Rivers was sacked five times.
“They got us on a couple sacks, and to me, a couple of ‘em were coverage sacks,” Sirianni said. “They didn’t do something we thought they were gonna do, and of course, you’re gonna look at the play like, ‘Man, I thought they were gonna do this on that play. … Philip thought they were going to do this on that play, too, and that’s why he’s getting ready to throw it. Oh, no! They don’t do what we thought. Boom!’ He moves in the pocket and you get sacked.”
Sirianni said he wished he had given Rivers another option on the play, or thought through what would happen if the Steelers did what they ended up doing, instead of what he had anticipated.
“You don’t want to have too many of those. Obviously, that’s unacceptable when you have too many of them,” he concluded.
A lot of questions each week concerned Jonathan Taylor, the rookie running back from Wisconsin, drafted 41st overall in the second round, who rushed 232 times for 1,169 yards and 11 touchdowns last season. (The Colts definitely emphasized the run.) In extolling Taylor, Sirianni at one point credited the Colts’ scouts for the depths of their insights.
“This is the best place I’ve ever been just with how much our scouts dig into the person, the player … and find out everything about that person,” Sirianni said. “The reason [Taylor] is a stud on the football field is, he’s got great character and the want-to and desire to be great. They knew that about him.”
As the Colts prepared to face the Texans on Dec. 6, Sirianni said he had “thought about J.J. Watt more than you can possibly think about a player, the last couple days.”
Eagles fans, accustomed to Pederson going for it on fourth down more than any other NFL coach, might be interested in Sirianni’s thoughts about what plays are best on fourth down.
“First of all, do we have confidence in the player that’s going to be targeted on that? And most definitely, the reason [that play is being considered] is because the answer is yes. Do we have confidence in the scheme, that we’ve seen it versus different looks … and has answers for different things?” he said.
“It’s players and confidence. … And do we know all the finer coaching points of that play? Do we know how to coach this play in our sleep, versus this look or that look?”